Apple’s new operating system for desktop computers and laptops, OS X Mavericks, is expected to be given its release date today.

While there will be no surprises in store with the software itself, which has been available to beta testers for three months, what the release does hint at is more of the company's software strategy. And what it says is that Apple has looked at the progress of its closed world of iPhone apps - and it likes what it sees.

Apple has been selling ebooks since it launched the iPad in 2010, but until the release of Mavericks there has been no way to read them on a computer.

That’s merely inconvenient when it comes to reading for pleasure - but inexplicably slow, given that the company has also been aggressively attempting to grow iBooks' share of the textbook market.

For students, being able to have a textbook open on the same screen as a word processor isn’t an edge case – it’s one of the biggest benefits of using ebooks for academic work. “If you’re a student hitting the books, keep as many open as you like and search through them with ease,” boasts Apple's site.

The new Maps app, however, is something very different altogether. On smartphones, most of us don’t blink twice at using an app for something which we could do on the web.

Just in the last month, I have downloaded apps for Eventbrite, Doodle, Yelp, Google Drive, Gmail, Ocado, Buzzfeed and Kickstarter, all companies with perfectly good websites. But the app experience is, by and large, faster, smoother, more reliable and better designed.

With Maps, Apple is banking that the same approach can work on the desktop. And if the side effect is that it undercuts Google Maps, a key brand of one of its biggest competitors, it’s not going to complain.

But if it pulls it off, it could lead to a rush of programs in the Mac App store from other developers. The ability to offer a completely tailored experience, and gain a precious piece of real estate in the user’s dock or applications folder, is a powerful proposition, if the app can break through to the top of the pile.

While there are advantages to switching from the web to an app, though, there remain trade-offs.

Publishers are sometimes spooked by some by the open web's ability to block adverts, or that sites don't stop the public copying and pasting content. But those 'problems' are advantages for the public.

The debate about whether information is better online or siloed away in apps has gone quiet when it comes to mobile devices; the two exist in an uneasy truce, with most publishers grudgingly offering both options.

But if app-led production does follow Apple, and make the jump to the desktop, expect that discussion to come back fiercer than ever.

What do you do if your business is undone in one keynote speech? That's what happens to the developers who find themselves suddenly competing against the low price of free after the release of OS X Mavericks. By Alex Hern.